The web-log of a duck-herding author.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

I wish I had something new and cool to say. I usually like to at least pose some significant questions or conundrums - but alas, tis not the case. I'm genuinely feeling insecure about my writing. I've had a four day weekend - in which I spent most of my time watching t.v. The first two days, I didn't judge myself to harshly. The previous two weeks were full of very long and tiring work days, and frankly I needed a couple days to do nothing! I definitely did better the next two days, but... I had this free time to write - and I did write- but it was like eating seeded watermelon. I finally put a better outline together for the rest of my book, and it really helped. However, as I've been writing lately, I feel like there just isn't enough happening in the book. Time needs to pass, and things need to be shown, but I'm just not showing them in an interesting enough way. It's discouraging, and I keep trying to just shove through it and allow inspiration to percolate as I write, but it's so draining. I know I'm better at editing than rough drafting, so I know I can fix things later, but it spots like this sure suck the fun out of the whole thing. I suppose it's an opportunity to teach myself perseverance, and self-discipline. Right now, I'm mostly cranky though and wish my pears were ripe so I could eat them with my Adam's chunky peanut butter. I wish my Husby were home.

Write again when I've got cooler stuff to say - take care all ye members of IWSG!

I'd suggest getting the structure of your story down from start to finish. It's good you have an outline, it will help you stay focused. (something I wish I could have done for my wip) Afterwards, it'll be easier to go in and edit, change or add to your wip. One of the problems I got into was trying to write, edit, and delete all at the same time. All I accomplished from that was making a mess out of my sotryline. It takes time but you'll get there, just keep writing! (:

I have had a few of those seeded watermelon sessions myself. It usually happens when I haven't written in a while and I am getting back into it. Keep it going. You will get there. like I wrote in my post. This writing thing is not always fun, but it is satisfying.

I find writing first drafts tough, too. I have to stop and think a lot. I find exercise helps with getting unstuck, or sometimes I have to write a long, rambling email to a friend. I often work out the problem before the end of the email, but I always send them. She gets a kick out of them. If I get no answer by the end of the email, I go blabber at my husband. Sometimes that helps. Sometimes not. Then I go do something else and something eventually comes along that makes me say, AHA! That's it!